"Hey, Skypaw!" Twinklestar calls as she pads over to the young apprentice. "Could you please help me in rebuilding the warriors' den? It was destroyed in the fire, and our cats won't have any shelter if we don't fix it."
"Sure, Twinklestar." Skypaw dips her head respectfully. "Where would you like to start?"
"I think on that side of the den," the red she-cat responds. She flicked her tail to the badly burnt right side of the den. "Could you get some brambles out in the forest? I'll go with you to gather moss."
"Of course. I think I saw some by the river." Skypaw flicks her tail in the direction of the river. "And I can only imagine that being the best place to gather moss. Right?"
"Yes. You're going to be a talented warrior," Twinklestar comments. She then bounds off towards the camp entrance. "Race you!"
"Hey! You got a head start!" Skypaw flies on her paws after her leader in the attempt to catch up. "Twinklestar! Watch out!" she suddenly yowls, warning her leader.
"I know this forest better than you, young'un," the older she-cat teases. "I wouldn't get in any trouble here." Birds chirp cheerily in the branches as the two run.
"Aw, I was trying to trick you so I could get ahead." Skypaw pouts at her leader. "I love it here. It's so nice."
"Yeah, it is." Twinklestar slows down and halts once they reach the river. "You're only a whisker behind me. Good race, Skypaw." She walks to a nearby tree and slices the moss with deft claws. "Don't forget those brambles!" she calls to the apprentice.
"Don't worry, I'll remember." Skypaw walks a bit further down stream to where see previously saw the brambles. A large pile was gathered from being carried down the river. Skypaw looks for the longest tendrils she can find. She rolls them up and grips them in her teeth, being careful not to get poked by the thorns.
"I'm back," she calls to her leader, though it sounded like "Mhm bik" due to her mouth being full.
Twinklestar twitches her whiskers. She had gotten a pile of moss, which she rolled up to squeeze the moisture out of and then carried it under her chin.
Skypaw sets her pile down to ask, "should we be heading back?"
"Yes. You can start making the nests, and I'll weave the brambles in to fix the den," her leader orders briskly. Twinklestar treks back to camp.
"Okay." Skypaw follows Twinklestar back to camp. When they arrive Skypaw sets her pile down. Twinklestar drops the moss and pushes it towards Skypaw. The apprentice heads inside the den, only to pop her head out. "Twinklestar, how many nests do I make?"
"As many as you can with that pile," Twinklestar meows. She then picks up a tendril and gets to work.
"Sure thing." Skypaw tears some moss from the pile to begin making the dens. It's hard work and now Skypaw has moss littering her fur but she gets a decent number of nest created.
Twinklestar was fiddling with a bramble. A breeze blew by, causing it to smack her in the face.
"Mouse-dung!" she curses.
"Twinklestar if you don't have another job for me I was thinking of going to collect some feathers for the nest. Is that alright?" Skypaw pokes her head out of the den with scraps of moss attached to her head.
"Okay. Be careful!" The she-cat whacks the bramble. "Right back at you, buddy," Twinklestar growls to the annoying bramble under her breath.
Skypaw stifles a laugh. Seeing her leader attack a bramble was both funny and rare. Regaining her composure she replies, "Don't worry. I'm not a mouse-brain." As she turns to walk away, she runs into a tree. "Hey watch out!" she yowled at it.
Twinklestar allows herself to smile at the apprentice's antics. She then sets to work on the den as Skypaw exits the camp.
The apprentice follows the same path she did earlier to the river. When she arrives, she walks over to where swans usually nested at this time in newleaf, sucessfully scaring all the huge birds away. She gathers a large amount of feathers and is about to walk away when she spots a large fish. Skypaw sets her feathers under a rock and positions herself at the edge of the river, being careful not to let her shadow fall on the water. Paw positioned in the air, she flips the fish out of water and swiftly delivers a killing bite.
Picking it up along with her feathers, the apprentice makes her way back to camp. Twinklestar raises her head and looks at the apprentice. She is impressed by the catch, though of course she wouldn't say that out loud.
Instead, she mews, "I hope those feathers don't smell fishy."
"I put a leaf in between them." Dropping her catch on the pile, she hurried back inside to attach the feathers to the nests.
The leader sighs as she tries to persuade the persistent tendril into moving the way she wanted it to. She twists the bramble so it moves in the right direction and slides it under another one to hold it in place. "Done!" She pads inside the newly made den to check on Skypaw.
The apprentice finishes putting the last feather in the correct place just as Twinklestar entered the den. "Okay, now what?"
"I think we're finished!" Twinklestar meows triumphantly. She steps outside to admire their work. "You did well. Go rest and eat something if you want to."
"Okay." Skypaw nods her head at her leader and pads to the fresh-kill pile. "Thank you for the fun day, Twinklestar."